What a day...

I'd had my day planned nicely - spend the morning in my studio and then go to the dump - sorry "civic amenity" - in the afternoon to empty my wheely-bin (scheduled collection was on St. Patrick's Day, and we hadn't checked that in light of the public holiday, the collection was due to take place last Saturday). Even when Mrs. P asked me to post a letter for her, I thought to myself that I could accommodate that request fairly handily in my day.

Halfway through my studio session, it suddenly occurred to me that I had to take Mrs P's Yaris for its NCT in the afternoon. I needed to get the car's registration certificate for the test - a trip back to the old gaff was called for. The test taking place in the afternoon scuppered the idea of going to the dump after lunch. So I decided there and then to go to the dump right away and swing by the old house on the way back. I knew exactly where the cert would be...

...except that when I eventually got back to the house, I couldn't find the damn cert. I searched high up and, indeed, low down. I searched the "obvious" places it should be and the "obvious" places where it might be if it wasn't where it should be. No dice. So I was faced with the prospect of cancelling the test (and suffering a cancellation fee) and then the hassle of replacing the cert.

Got back to the new house tired and very cross and rang the NCT to see about cancelling the test. When I told them I was cancelling because I'd lost the cert, they said that the test could be carried out anyway but that I'd be asked to present the replacement cert within 30 days. Excellent. Then I rang the Department of Transport office in Shannon which issues the certs in the first place and they said all I had to do was go to my local motor tax office, get a particular form from the office, complete it and get it stamped by les flics and then send it off to Shannon (with a small fee). The replacement cert would issue within a "few days".

Feeling much better about things, I presented the car for its test (after giving it a hard - but totally legal - run up the M7) and it passed with flying colours. And the gas thing is that the guys at the NCT never asked me to present my cert within 30 days.

Everything worked out well (I even got to post Mrs. P's letter), but I could've done without all the sturm und drang...

Regards,


djp